Gadgets Have Travelers Opting for Buses over Flights

Like to check e-mail or surf the internet while traveling? You may want to take the Megabus rather than JetBlue, says a study.

The availability of free Wi-Fi and power outlets in inter-city buses and trains, coupled with increased security around air travel, is spurring more people to take the longer road home.

“Technology is changing how people approach travel,” says Joe Schwieterman, a professor at DePaul University who worked on the study. “For many travelers, the ability to seamlessly use portable technology offsets the disadvantages of longer travel times.”

Schwieterman and his colleagues collected information from 7,000 passengers on intercity bus, train and airline trips in 14 states. They found that at randomly selected points during trips, nearly 40 percent of passengers on buses were using some form of portable technology such as a laptop or a phone. It is two percentage points more than on conventional Amtrak trains and more than twice that on commercial flights and Greyhound.

That’s translated into growth for bus and some train services. Intercity bus networks grew 5.1 percent in 2009, a rate of growth higher than all other major modes for the third straight year, says the study.

It also marks the end of Americans’ love affair with the car, says Schweiterman.

“Earlier people would get into the car, drive have their cellphones with them and listen to their music systems,” he says. “But now you can’t text while driving, can’t surf the net so for young people, driving is no longer an attractive idea.”

Buses have been quick to give in to the consumer desire to stay connected most of the time. The DC2NY Bus, a service that runs between Washington, D.C., and New York started offering free on-board Wi-Fi in 2007. Other services such as BoltBus and Megabus did the same. Even the “Chinatown buses”–lines that link the Chinatown districts of major cities–spent an estimated $5,000 per vehicle to equip their buses with Wi-Fi, says the report.

Airlines are trying to fight back. Wi-fi is now being offered on a number of most major long-distance flights in the U.S.

Still with ever-changing security restrictions including the recent temporary restrictions on the use of electronics in flight means the Accela looks like a better option than ever.

“The hassles of flying and limits on technology use has made people move away from flights for short distance trips like New York to Washington D.C. or Chicago to Detroit.